Best New Films Released 2017

10 Movies You Need To Be Excited About In 2017

The start of a fresh new year in movies is always exciting. The release list is full of possibility – every single film, still unseen, has the potential to be the best of the year. Favourite heroes will return, new ones will be born, apparently long-dead series will resurrect, quiet little indies will sneak out and steal your heart from the blockbusters... This year, more than almost any other, we need reasons to feel positive. Well, be cheered by the fact that 2017 is shaping up to be a top year for cinema. Here are ten releases to mark in your diaries now.

T2 Trainspotting

A sequel to Trainspotting, a film so very much about youth and irresponsibility, arriving 21 years after the first does not initially sound encouraging. Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle are now middle-aged men, not wiry, cool 20-somethings. What makes this exciting rather than faintly dispiriting is that all the gang is back, including director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge. It’s hard to believe the whole lot would have assembled if they were not confident they had something worth making.

Moonlight

It can damn a film with unfairly high expectations to call it an Oscar favorite, particularly when it’s a small production, so we won’t say that of Moonlight. Instead we will merely say that this story of three stages in the life of a boy growing up poor, black and gay in Miami is one of the most moving, beautifully made films in quite some time. Director Barry Jenkins is a talent to watch.

Logan

Hugh Jackman has very publicly said that he doesn’t feel he’s ever made a film that truly does justice to Wolverine, a character he’s played for 16 years. This, which Jackman says will be his last go as the hairy grump, will take things in a very different direction. Now an old man, with special abilities fading, Logan, aka Wolverine, teams up with Professor X to protect a young girl with powers very similar to his own. Trailers shown so far suggest something stark and very violent, rather than shiny and comic book-y. Claws crossed this is the masterpiece Wolverine deserves.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The second Guardians movie is at a disadvantage compared to its predecessor. The first movie arrived with very little expectation. It turned out to be such a blast that expectation for the second is sky high. It still has all the same ingredients as last time, including director James Gunn and that wonderful cast, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be equally as much fun. Set two months after the first movie, it follows Peter Quill’s mission to find his father, who will be played by Kurt Russell. Also, there’s baby Groot. Baby Groot is worth the ticket price alone.

Alien: Covenant

Prometheus, a film with tons of ideas but not enough to tie them together, came in for a lot of criticism on release in 2012. Was it an Alien sequel? What exactly was going on? Alien: Covenant is much more blatant about its ties to the classic franchise. Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them) plays a member of crew on a ship that arrives on a seemingly peaceful, beautiful planet. However, there they find David (Michael Fassbender), the robot who survived the events of Prometheus, which suggests all is not well. Ridley Scott can still direct sci-fi like nobody else, so fingers crossed for a script worthy of his talents.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Sony has mishandled the Spider-Man franchise for years, rushing out too many half-formed films and losing fan loyalty with each instalment. Now, however, they’re working with Marvel, which has barely put a foot wrong in adapting its heroes to screen. Everything looks positive so far. Tom Holland’s cameo as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War showed youthful charm and a good way with a one-liner, and it got the origin story out of the way in minutes. Michael Keaton will be playing the baddy, Vulture, and he is rarely anything other than fun. Robert Downey Jr. will appear as Iron Man, Spidey’s mentor. This just needs to be a great time. No over-serious darkness, no teasing countless spin-offs, just a fun ride with Marvel’s most fun character.

Dunkirk

A change of pace for Christopher Nolan after years of sci-fi and fantasy. This World War II film follows the horrific experiences of British, Belgian and French soldiers as they’re overwhelmed by the German army on the beaches of Dunkirk. We know Nolan is now very comfortable with large-scale cinema, and earlier films like Memento and Insomnia proved that he can craft thrilling narratives without a fantastical concept. Emotion has never been Nolan’s strong suit, but Dunkirk will need it in floods. It’s exciting to see a director this successful who never stops reaching further.

Blade Runner 2049

If Ridley Scott wasn’t going to make this very belated sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic then Denis Villeneuve was the best second choice. The director of Arrival and Sicario has shown he can streamline complex ideas and create vivid worlds, just like Scott. The first trailer for Blade Runner 2049 indicates it will be just as visually stunning as the first. All we know of the plot so far is that it’s set thirty years after the original, with Ryan Gosling playing a blade runner in a world that has further corroded. Gosling’s character discovers something potentially disastrous that leads him on a quest to find Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard, the original blade runner who has been in hiding for years. All the ingredients in this one are fantastic.

Justice League

There’s so much resting on Justice League. Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman both disappointed, critically and at the box office. We’ll see in June whether Wonder Woman can deliver the fun the men couldn’t, but Justice League is still the big one. It’s DC’s version of the Avengers, featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg all in one movie, and it could be the biggest superhero movie of all time. That is, if it finds a story that’s not too convoluted and a mood that balances the dark with moments of light. Please let DC have learned lessons from past mistakes. Please let it be the glorious comeback of cinema’s most beloved heroes.

Star Wars: Episode VIII

Force Awakens was terrific. Rogue One was arguably even better. No pressure, Episode VIII. Rian Johnson (Looper) is taking the controls for the second part of the new Star Wars trilogy, in which we can hope to learn more about the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Rey, some more detail on the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke, and just what kind of villain Benicio Del Toro will be playing. The Star Wars series is in rude health right now and there’s no reason to suspect that with the new trilogy’s story now well under way that will stop now.